Penn Baja Special anti-reverse problem

Started by steelfish, May 03, 2016, 04:37:16 PM

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steelfish

Quote from: Rivverrat on October 17, 2016, 05:21:16 PM
Alex, after talking with Sal about the drag he suggested I might try a different arrangement of Delrin washers. So far I have replaced the the one under the main gear & I think I have one beneath the single
spring / belleville washer that sits on top the drag stack. ..Jeff   

my man Sal, he sent me some Delrin washer few months ago for the 113h and 112h of course them came with few extra washers, I looked the way he put them on the 113h tank, so I also used the same arragment on the Baja, which its the same way you described, one under the main gear and one under the presure washer at the top of the drag stack, but on the one on top of the drag stack I really dont remember if I leave it like that or I used a thicker delrin washer instead of the benevile/presure washer that the top like this, this delrin is thicker so takes the place of the spring washer and the thin delrin washer beneath.



The Baja Guy

Rivverrat

Alex, did you notice any improvement in the smoothness of the drag at high settings ? ....Jeff

steelfish

Quote from: Rivverrat on October 17, 2016, 08:47:51 PM
Alex, did you notice any improvement in the smoothness of the drag at high settings ? ....Jeff

well, my dumbbell set is only 20lb so it was the max drag I could test on my Baja on a rod and it was really smooth at that drag mark, I never went higher since I didnt had a proper way to know how much more weight I was adding.
20# drag was for sure enough drag for me anyway so I stopped my test there



The Baja Guy

Rivverrat

#183
Alex, thats good to hear. I'm getting 25 lbs. of fishable drag. For me this is plenty. My thoughts are with the heat thats generated fairly quickly at this setting there are better reels for fish needing this amount of drag. That are going strip large amounts of line with each run. Ths is the same issue I find with the newer small to mid size lever drag reels at high drag settings. However this issue doesnt come up that much with my
fishing  ....Jeff

Dominick

Quote from: steelfish on October 17, 2016, 10:59:47 PM
Quote from: Rivverrat on October 17, 2016, 08:47:51 PM
Alex, did you notice any improvement in the smoothness of the drag at high settings ? ....Jeff

well, my dumbbell set is only 20lb so it was the max drag I could test on my Baja on a rod and it was really smooth at that drag mark, I never went higher since I didnt had a proper way to know how much more weight I was adding.
20# drag was for sure enough drag for me anyway so I stopped my test there
Alex you can always use a gallon of water as a weigh.  1 Gallon weighs 8.34 lbs.  3 gallons will put you at just about 25 lbs.  Dominick
Leave the gun.  Take the cannolis.

There are two things I don't like about fishing.  Getting up early in the morning and boats.  The rest of it is fun.

steelfish

Quote from: Dominick on October 18, 2016, 06:42:56 PM
Quote from: steelfish on October 17, 2016, 10:59:47 PM
Quote from: Rivverrat on October 17, 2016, 08:47:51 PM
Alex, did you notice any improvement in the smoothness of the drag at high settings ? ....Jeff

well, my dumbbell set is only 20lb so it was the max drag I could test on my Baja on a rod and it was really smooth at that drag mark, I never went higher since I didnt had a proper way to know how much more weight I was adding.
20# drag was for sure enough drag for me anyway so I stopped my test there
Alex you can always use a gallon of water as a weigh.  1 Gallon weighs 8.34 lbs.  3 gallons will put you at just about 25 lbs.  Dominick

thanks Dominick, its good to know, I could never know that since Im more into metric system.. but now I will have that into consideration if I ever need it again

note for myself: one liter of water weights one Kilogram so, 1 gallon = 3.78Lt = 3.78kg /0.454 lb = 8.34lb per gallon water
The Baja Guy

sdlehr

Sid Lehr
Veterinarian, fishing enthusiast, custom rod builder, reel collector

Rivverrat

#187
One thing I've failed to mention about Tom's anti reverse upgrade that I think most who use this reel will understand & appreciate.

THERE IS NO MORE FUMBLING & BUMBLING AROUND WITH THAT BLOODY HEMHROID OF A DOG SPRING,  CLUSTER CLUMP !!  

If you have completly disassembled Tom's anti reverse once you put it all back together it stays that way. No more holding your tounge right or being careful how you hold the bridge when matting it up to the
side plate....Jeff    

handi2

Quote from: Cortez_Conversions on September 20, 2016, 06:56:25 PM
Quote from: borchcl on September 20, 2016, 02:17:58 AM
Tom, if you are going to market these, I could use two.
Charlie

As soon as the feedback confirms the design, these will be available.

Tom I need 4 of them for myself.

Keith
OCD Reel Service & Repair
Gulf Breeze, FL

Islandgypsy

Could use at least one, when available.

wascallywabit


steelfish

Quote from: steelfish on October 10, 2016, 11:35:42 PM

my the reel with the upgrade parts is still on the water, will see if I have any news to report in two weeks more.

Well, I havent gotten the reel back to open it up and check any kind of damage on the antireverse assembly by Tom, but I do recieved some pictures of the best fish caught with the upgraded Baja Special on the last weeks.

as you know, this reel was being used on a pangar charter service as loaner reel, so according to the Panguero (captain) this reel went 3-4 days on the water each week for the last 4 weeks, it caught tons of small local fishes like corvina, croaker, triggers, sierra, cabrilla (leopard grouper), etc and went through a lot of snags on the bottom each time (serious punishment to antireverse assembly), well today he told me the reel is working better than ever.
it never caught a monster fish but we werent checking drag power right? as soon as I ge the reel back in few days, I will open it up and will post some pictures of the antireverse assembly, for now some pics of the biggest fish caught with that reel in this month of use.

some nice White seabass








I really think that with the Lab-tests made by Jeff with hard testings on the park and those panga fishing trips (loaner reels gets a lot of punishment by the rockies, specially when trying to break the line of lots of snagged terminal rigs ) and considering the reel is still performing like the 1st day, this give us an idea that Tom made a good job with this upgrade, in the real world only testing it for the entire season will tell us how many times this upgrade is better than factory AR system, but for now Im a happy camper and will get another upgrade for my 2nd Baja as soon as Tom release them.



The Baja Guy

Rivverrat

  I was wanting to see if Tom's work brought this reel into the realm of fishing it's specs as stated by Penn. Which the stock anti reverse would not do for any length of time. It's my belief Tom's work has acomplished this. With some delrin washers added, as I stated prior Im now getting a smooth fishable, flex free, drag of 25 lbs. Making this my go to reel for fishing bridge pilings & log piles. Not for sure but I believe the pinion would give out well before there is any issue with Tom's anti reverse....Jeff

steelfish

#193
well after 5-6 weeks on the water and fishing 3-4 days a week, I finally have the Baja special back to check Tom's bridge upgrade.

the bridge still works as swiss watch, sounds like music when you spin the sleeve and there were no marks on the dogs or ratchet, but you will see some marks on the sleeve from the times where the hook/lead got snagged and the captain broke it free using the boat power and/or big pulls with the rod, I was told by the Panga guy that there were some breakoff of the line while fighting a good black grouper, he was using 50# mono long leader and 80# braid line, he just tightened the drag trying the lift the fish but it must have been one big guy and it broke free to fight another day.


I dont know if there is something by using Tom's bridge/sleeve for this weeks on the reel that I feel the reel smoother and more "freely" while turning the handle or maybe its just my imagination, but now my the Baja feels smoother and sounds like a revolver with the DD with stronger springs.



Quote from: Rivverrat on May 10, 2016, 03:35:12 PM
Steelfish, is your friend using scales to set his drag?
The brass sleeve is showing evidence of being fished well above 20 lbs. of drag. Those marks on the sleeve are the washers cutting into the sleeve. Where the ratchet rides on the sleeve is showing evidence also. I've not witnessed this happening on this reel when fished at or below the 20 lb. level. Not when everything else is within specs. Only other scenario I'm aware of that can cause this at these drag settings is throwing the lever forward on a hard running fish.
Jeff, those are the same marks that were on the brass sleeve but now on the SS sleeve, according to your tests, then this reel was used above 20# drag almost the whole time













Tom, you just did it compadre.. again.
The Baja Guy

Cortez_Conversions

That's great Alex! I have a few questions...
So normally this reel would need a complete rebuild after six weeks, correct? What does it need now?
Are the dog posts are still straight and tight?
Is there any abnormal wear on the metal drag washers?
Is there any distorted threads from the star being torqued down?
Is there any damage to the sleeve where the handle and nut tighten down?

Thanks for the great pics!
Tom
Visit: cortezconversions.com
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.-Sal